Athletic shoe



April 26, 1932.

P. W. JONES ATHLETIC SHOE Filed June 14, 198

Ill',

l lllllllllllll @y2/Zar jazz W22@ 22H/5,

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 April 25, 1932. P. W..JONES 1,855,452 ATHLETIC SHOE l Filed June 14, 1928 2 sheets-sheet 2 Patented Apr; 26., 1932 I UNITED srArEs PATENT oFrIcE4 PAUL WILEY JONES, O F EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, ASBIGNOR T0 JOHN T. RIDDELL, 0l'

- EVANSTON, ILLINGIS .ATHLETIC SHE Application med June 14,

This invention relates to an athletic shoe, and has for its object the provision of an 1m-4 proved shoe of a t pe generally used 1n jumping events, where y an athlete is enabled to increase the height of the jump.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.A

The invention consists in the combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described a-nd claimed.

The invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which, v

Fig. l is a view of the bottom of a shoe, illustrating the application of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a. side elevational view with a portion of the front part of the shoe shown in vertical section; I

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view of the lower part of the shoe taken on the line 3 3 o'f igl; I

Fig. 4 is a side view showing the shoe of the present invention upon the foot of the athlete and illustrating the position assumed 'by the foot and lower part of the leg at the mstant of impact with the take-oit` board in the running broad jump event;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 6, taken Vat a slightly advanced position; j

Fig. 6 is a similar view showing the positions of the foot and leg and after commencement of the downward thrust force exerted in the running broad jump event; and

Fig. 7 is a similar view showing the relative positions assumed at a point immediately preceding leaving the take-ofi board when the greatest downward thrust force is belng app The distance obtained by an athlete in the running broad jump event is the result of two contributing factors,-frst', the running speed of the athlete, and second, the height which he is able to attain by reason of the downward thrust force exerted through the muscles of the leg and foot receding leaving the ground. This event has een selected for the purpose of illustrating the present invention, inasmuch as an important object is the disposition and arrangement of the ucleats with which the shoes are ordinarily provided in such manner 1928. Serial N0. 285,854.,

that the downward thru-st may be utilized to the greatest possible advantage and, consequently, greater height attained in jumping.

As illustrated in the drawings, the pre.

ferred embodiment comprises a iexible, tightly fitting shoe upper 11 provided with a sole 12, 'to which are attached cleats 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 2l. The sole portion of the shoe, as shown in the drawings, extends over the sole and heel of the athlete, but the heel portion of the shoe is not provided with a lift or shoe heel. For running and jumping events, a steel cleat, as shown, is preferred inasmuch as it combines strength with lightness and small cross sectional area. The aim has been to insure adequate traction, and at the same time offer the least impediment to the running speed of the athlete. In this connection, the take-ofi?v platform 22 used in jumping events, is generally composed of hard wood to avoid slippage and, at the same time, prevent any materlal penetration of the board by the cleats.

In short distance running, the athlete strikes the ground only with the forward part of the foot, for which reason it has been deemed suiiicient to provide cleatsonly on the tread portion of the sole, and a type heretofore used is typicall represented by the shoe shown in Fig. 1 with thecleats 19, 20 and 21 omitted. A. shoe of this construction enabled an athlete to attain his maximum speed and this general type of shoe has been retained for years for use in the jumping as well as the running events, with no apparent appreciation that, while entirely satisfactory as a running shoe, it was defective for jumping. It has been developed that in jumping, the downward thrust force is concentrated horizontally approximately in a line passing through the center of the joints between the metatarsal bones of the instep and the first row of phalanges of the bones of the toes. This line -is indicated in Fig. 1 by the broken line A-B. The direction of the downward thrust force in jumping is indicated in Fig. 2 by the vertical broken -line C-D, which is perpendicular to the line A-B of Fig. 1, and thus it will be seen that a vertical plane described by the lines A-B and C--D lies to the rear of a vertical plane passing througlh the ends of the rearmost cleats 13, 18, of t e former type of shoe.4 Consequently, heretofore the effectiveness of the downward force has been diminished by reason of this off-set relationship and the lack of a positive resistance at the line of maximum thrust.

In the preferred embodiment illustrated, the present invention contemplates the provision of additional cleats 19, 20 and 21, positioned in such manner that at the instant of maximum downward thrust the ends of the rearmost cleats 20, 21 will lie in a Vertical plane to the rear of a vertical plane through the line A-B, and whereby the ends of the cleats 13, 18, 19, 20 and 21 lie substantially in a plane perpendicular to'the directional line C-D of maximum thrust. By this construction and arrangement, the pivotal action at the ends of the cleats 13, 18 inherent in the former type of shoe, is eliminated.

i Furthermore, there is no decrease in the effectiveness of the thrust force as formerly occurred when the foot was orced backwardly A a slight distance at the moment requiring the greatest utilization of the downward thrust.

Thisyslight rocking action upon the cleats 13,

18 was momentary, and was not noticed nor apparent because of the-strain and exertion under which the athlete was laboring. Preferably, the rearmost cleats 20, 21 are posi-l tioned relatively a substantial distance to the rear of cleats 13, 18 as indicated in the drawings wherein the distance between the end of each rearmost cleat 20, 21 and the line of thrust 'C-D, approximately equals the distance between the end of each cleat 13, 18 and the line C-D. By this arrangement, when the cleats 13, 18, 19, 20 and 21 are of substantially the same length, a support for the foot is provided which acts as a positive resistance to thrust forces exerted in jumping, and which extends on both sides of. the' line of maximum thrust. i

While I have illustrated and described the preferred form of construction for carrying my invention into effect, this is capable of variation and modification without departing from the spirit of the invention. I, therefore,

do not wish to be limited to the precise details of construction set forth, but desire to avail myself of such variations and modifications as come within the scope of the appended claim. A

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is; j A

An athletic jumping shoe having a flexible, tightly fitting uppel` portion, a sole portion extending over the sole and heel of the foot of the' athlete but not provided with a lift or shoe heel, a plurality of cleats of small crosssectional area mounted in the sole portion of sald shoe beneath the toes and instep of the Lasa-15a e joints between foot, certain of said cleats being positioned in y 

